Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff | United Kingdom

You've heard all about the latest megatrends – 5G, AI, IoT, Smart Cities – you name it, we've got it covered. Here, the brains in the business provide the insight that counts. Expect this and more at Digital Festival

We can drive a new generation of seamless connectivity through 5G

With 5G on the horizon, we’re hurtling towards a digital future of ultra-fast, ultra-reliable connectivity. Damn good news too, our thirst for data has reached almost insatiable levels. With Innovation Point, newly appointed as the company to lead Wales’ Imperative Strategy for 5G the time is right for us to start talking streaming, industry challenges, economic opportunity, and exploiting the 5G future.

I have a confession to make. I am a secret Netflix binger. I have a Fire Stick, get lost in the iPlayer’s back catalogue, and saw every dancing cat video before it went viral. And if there’s one thing I resent – truly despise with every waking breath – it’s when a video stops to buffer. In today’s digital world, laggy connectivity should be a distant memory, rather than a commonly shared bugbear.

Cardiff was one of the first cities to benefit from the rollout of 4G networks in 2012. For me, this eradicated an inability to simultaneously stream Breaking Bad on my laptop while sending that important email on my phone. For you, 4G far surpassed the capabilities of pre-existing 3G networks. It enabled video calls, large file sharing, and connectivity with ever-evolving internet of things (IoT) devices – all at high speeds and on the move.

4G also meant a significant rise in mobile data traffic. In 2016, there was a reported growth of 63%, and demand will only increase. Despite 4G being relatively new – many parts of the UK are still waiting for it –we’re already detecting signs of it creaking under the pressure.

That could ultimately result in patchy connectivity and a decline in productivity. We need a solution, and that solution is 5G – a new generation of seamless connectivity. It’s set to be lightning-quick, with data transmission speeds of up to 100 times faster than 4G, and will have the capacity to support the likes of augmented reality, autonomous transport networks, and millions of inter-connected IoT devices.

5G presents new opportunities for Wales. Its deployment requires extensive research, development, and testing to overcome perceived market failures. There is a need to better understand how the creation and application of micro, new model technologies of the future can best exploit 5G networks – and therefore take advantage of the significant economic benefits 5G will bring.

Cardiff Capital Region has stated its intent to establish an ‘innovation district’ that will create and nurture young high-growth companies. It will increase investment in research and development, and place outstanding digital infrastructure at its core. This wider ecosystem must include next generation broadband, and prioritisation of 5G technologies that add value to existing provision. It will also see the inception of a 5G testbed, strengthening the investment in Newport’s £38m semiconductor foundry, which is building the technology behind robotics of the future and IoT devices.

We’re looking at the future of integrated, 5G connected energy systems coming from Swansea Bay City Region innovation. Ebbw Vale could become a ‘hot’ testbed for 5G transport systems, as Welsh Government intend to deliver the area as an autotech park.

But harnessing Wales’ innovation and ambition is not the challenge, here. Collaboration is the key to ensuring Wales becomes a leader in the development of emerging 5G technologies.

We need to ensure we have the ability and resources to facilitate the new infrastructure required to introduce 5G. Then, we need to develop affordable products capable of processing data at the speed it’s transmitted on a 5G network. This will drive productivity and growth within the digital industry – particularly for SMEs – and attract investment from outside Wales.

Businesses urged to take tech opportunity and learn from leaders as Digital Festival announces line-up

Speakers from GoCompare, Wired, Starling Bank and more to share insight from the main stage

The founding editor-in-chief of Wired, established fintech leaders and a Silicon Valley investor are just some of the names businesses can learn from as at this year’s Digital Festival, as the first wave of speakers are announced. The international tech event, headline sponsored once again by fintech pioneer GoCompare, returns in 2018 for its sixth year.

Digital Festival, organised by Innovation Point in partnership with Welsh Government, will welcome more than 2,000 delegates to the iconic Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. Online ticket registration for the event, taking place on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 May 2018, opens today (Monday 12 March 2018) at www.innovationpoint.uk/digital-festival

Keynotes from big names in the tech world will be delivered from the main stage, including speakers from GoCompare, BT, Sony Europe, TechUK, British Blockchain Foundation, Garmin and BBC sharing their insight into how the latest innovations can impact on the way organisations operate. A series of workshops will explore how megatrends like 5G, artificial intelligence, and digital privacy can benefit businesses across the UK.

Jackson Hull, chief operating and technology officer at headline sponsor GoCompare, said: “We’re proud to support Digital Festival and further our shared ambition of putting Wales on the map as a tech hotspot. This event is a catalyst for great ideas and important conversations between start-ups and established organisations, and this sharing of insights and collective problem solving can help take innovation from concept to reality. As a tech company we’re always on this journey ourselves, and we’re excited to share what we’ve learnt and learn from others too.”

Panels and round-table discussions at the event will look to solve contemporary challenges to the tech sector, such as barriers to women reaching high-level roles. Barclays Eagle Labs and the Centre of Excellence in Mobile and Emerging Technologies (CEMET) join this year’s list of sponsors, and the festival will boast an expo showcasing the latest tech products and services with experts on-hand to explain how they can add value to organisations of all sizes

Start-ups will have the opportunity to pitch to investors from a Dragons’ Den style showcase stage, collaborate with industry leaders in a start-up clinic, and work together in group sessions to problem solve challenges against the clock.
The event also offers the opportunity to meet contacts and potential customers, with 6200 new connections made at last year’s event by organisations looking to do business.

The first keynotes announced include:

David Rowan, founding editor-in-chief, Wired, UK edition, the pioneering science and technology magazine. He’s an expert on topics like big data, the mobile age, new technologies, and consumer trends. David has keynoted on technology, business, and innovation from Melbourne to Monaco. He’s written columns for GQ, The Times and The Guardian. He’s an early stage investor in 40 tech companies, and will be delivering a keynote at Digital Festival on ‘smart innovative businesses’.

Anne Boden, CEO and founder of
Starling Bank, the UK mobile only current account built on a foundation
of disruptive emerging technology. Starling is working to take on
traditional banks and help people develop a healthier relationship with
their money. Anne is widely recognised as one of the global power women
in fintech, and has held senior leadership positions at financial
heavyweights including Lloyds and the Royal Bank of Scotland. It was
during her tenure as CEO of Allied Irish Bank where she started to
explore the exciting potential of fintech for transforming the everyday
lives of customers.

Jackson Hull, CTO at
GoCompare, the tech company behind the definitive comparison site, and
initiatives such as the Machine Learning for Fintech project. Jackson
has extensive experience in artificial intelligence and the tech sector,
and was previously CTO at Student.com, the leading global student
accommodation marketplace, and onefinestay, the hospitality company
recently acquired by Accor Hotels.

Ollie Purdue, CEO and founder
of Loot, the mobile payment and financial services app for students and
millennials. Since launching the company in 2016 when he was just 21
years old, Ollie has raised more than £6m and built a team of more than
40 members in the UK and Poland.

Keith Teare, executive chair
of Accelerated Digital Ventures and a Silicon Valley investor, will be
sharing success and horror stories from the world of investing in and
funding innovation. Since the 1980s, Keith has founded multiple
companies, two of which – Easynet and RealNames – were unicorns valued
at more than $1 billion. He has extensive experience working with
innovators and investors and has learned a great deal from successes and
failures alike.

David Rowan, headline speaker on Tuesday 22 May said: “The world will never move this slowly again. Technology is changing the way every kind of company does business. Suddenly, companies are realising they need to be an artificial intelligence (AI) business, a data-led business, a networked-intelligence business, and so on. That creates huge opportunities for the incumbent companies that can move quickly and make the most out of these new competitive advantages.

“AI will create new efficiencies in sectors from healthcare to personalised education. I’m the rare optimist who is less worried about human jobs disappearing – I actually think there will be new demands for higher-level human jobs, to perform tasks the machine is less good at.

“At Digital Festival, I’ll be sharing the lessons I’m learning in my intense travels visiting start-up clusters, university R&D labs and venture capitalists. The future is being built in Shenzhen, Berlin, Tel Aviv and everywhere else that's on the network. There's no reason that Cardiff can't incubate the world-changing digital companies of the future.”

David Warrender, CEO at Innovation Point said: “In the UK, the digital sector is growing twice as fast as the wider economy. It’s creating double the number of jobs, attracting billions in investment and contributes around £100bn to the economy.
“Digital Festival is your platform to help shape its future. Whether you’re an innovative start-up, a non-tech business looking to learn how tech can transform your operation, or have decades of experience in the sector and a cryptocurrency portfolio begging to be invested, you have a part to play. This is the festival to talk tech, find funding and showcase your brand to a global audience.”

Wales Millennium Centre will be divided into unique ‘worlds’ for delegates to explore. The World of Data will see talks on the data economy, personalisation, privacy and GDPR. The World of Innovation takes in topics like blockchain, artificial intelligence and virtual reality. The Smart, Connected World will explore future Internet of Things (IoT) technology and smart cities. And the World of Opportunities will consider tech bridging gaps in societies, crowdfunding and the trends investors are backing for the future.

About Digital Festival
Digital Festival is a two-day event where companies can talk tech, find funding, and go global. The event is a dynamic mix of interactive workshops, round table discussions, pitches, expos, and networking. It is attended by the movers, shakers, doers, and makers of the tech industry.

Each year, the event attracts a global audience of individuals and organisations that come together to push boundaries in business and drive innovation. The key themes of this year’s event are The World of Data; The World of Innovation; The Smart, Connected World; and The World of Opportunities

The event is being organised by Innovation Point, the digital innovation company based in south Wales, in partnership with Welsh Government.

GoCompare is a comparison website that enables people to compare the costs and features of a wide variety of insurance policies, financial products and energy tariffs.

GoCompare does not charge people to use its services, and it does not accept advertising or sponsored listings, so all product comparisons are unbiased. GoCompare makes its money through fees paid by the providers of products that appear on its various comparison services when a customer buys through the site.

GoCompare does not sell its customers’ data.

When it launched in 2006, it was the first comparison site to focus on displaying policy details rather than just listing prices, with the aim of helping people to make better-informed decisions when buying their insurance. GoCompare has remained dedicated to helping people choose the most appropriate products rather than just the cheapest, and has teamed up with Defaqto, the independent financial researcher, to integrate additional policy information into a number of its insurance comparison services. This allows people to compare up to an extra 30 features of cover.

GoCompare is the only comparison website to be invited to join the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).